Seaweed is a very versatile product widely used for food in
direct human consumption. It is also an ingredient for the global food and
cosmetics industries and is used as fertilizer and as an animal feed additive.
Total annual value of production is estimated at almost US$ 6 billion of which
food products for human consumption represent US$ 5 billion. Total annual use by
the global seaweed industry is about 8 million tonnes of wet seaweed.

Seaweed can be collected from the wild but is now increasingly
cultivated. It falls into three broad groups based on pigmentation; brown, red
and green seaweed.

Use of seaweed as food has strong roots in Asian countries
such as China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, but demand for seaweed as food
has now also spread to North America, South America and Europe. China is by far
the largest seaweed producer followed by the Republic of Korea and Japan but
seaweeds are today produced in all continents.

Red and brown seaweeds are also used to produce hydrocolloids;
alginate, agar and carrageenan, which are used as thickening and gelling agents.
Today, approximately 1 million tonnes of wet seaweed are harvested and extracted
to produce about 55 000 tonnes of hydrocolloids, valued at almost US$ 600
million.